Wed 3 Jun 2009
The Deep Bermuda Depths of Loch Ness, Part One
Posted by laup under Discussion, Meditations, Outbreak, Supernal Diver, Weirdie
[5] Comments
Finally getting a handle on the mess from the wave of water. Sorting it out psychologically has been exhausting. The last week has been a crashing surf on my head as I head into June. It looks to be such a busy month as I meet obligations, run errands, and struggle to stay current on the chores that keep me somewhat sane.
Been looking over the things my Bad Ronald leaves on my nightstand to read. One day he leaves a rough sketch of a mermaid dwelling contentedly in the burned out ruins of a shipwreck, surrounded by treasure. And bones. She sleeps happily, colored in such a fashion as to be clearly supernatural.
My friend Xtine shared with me a dream about the magical Melusine many months back. I didn’t know what to make of her dream then, but now I find myself looking up anything I can find on the internets on this magical being. Sensor readings, come to me!
Many tales tell of the blessings bestowed upon human beings in their interactions with supernatural beings, and the loss of those blessings when the human breaks some taboo. Human weakness always puts a fly in the soup it seems, and you don’t get a second chance to make it right.
There are also tales of the “happily ever after” variety, where faith is kept and both live on in harmony. The tale of Melusine isn’t one of those. But I don’t think myths and legends are static things, they change as people change.
Perhaps the mermaid is a vehicle for the energies of the unconscious, a means for us to interact with the unknown. Vehicle seems too impersonal even though there’s an impersonal element to these beings.
See, there’s this huge loch in the backyard of this here haunted house. And on really rainy days the waves wash close to the foundations of the house. The beastie that lives in the loch (are they even separate elements?) has been known to do all sorts of mischief. And here I am with a handful of clues and a calling to investigate.
Okay mermaid, it’s on. Ready or not, here I come.
I don’t believe I’ve ever known a mermaid who had a happily ever after. But the only ones I’ve ever known were of the “littlest” variety. I almost got into a verbal sparring match with someone over this at WisCon the first year I went. I can’t stand the Littlest Mermaid — Disneyfied or not. She has to give up who she is *to become acceptable to an alien being* in order to find her happily every after. If she ever found one at all. In the original I learned, she was in constant pain from denying her true self and became sea foam in the end.
The original Little Mermaid is rather grim. The old saying goes that mermaids can only obtain a soul by marrying a human who accepts them as they are. Good luck with that one!
But we keep striving, crazy fools we. If there aren’t very many happy endings, all the more reason to adventure and see what might be uncovered.
I think, that either giving up who they are to build bridges isn’t the right way to go about it. More along the lines I think both should go about their business as individuals and let bridges materialize naturally.
What is the business of mermaids? Human life can seem enticing from their end, and they might cause harm to themselves and others blundering into the human side. Of course, nothing ventured nothing gained.
Those wily mermaids that stay out of reach when discovered might be wise enough to remain themselves. Just as some humans know well enough to stay clear of those bewitching glimpses. Throw in the right ingredients, and maybe both will take a second look. There’s something in the woods after all, they say!
dear b,
all hail back from banff. thank you for the staying in touch. for the shout outs. all that. black coffee high five from yo hek sis.
i think of mermaid as the part of the self that is the hybrid. mer maid. water girl. water person. water sign self, obvious, but worth noting. what’s your relationship to that water? or to a girl, for that matter?
girl hybrid. no feet, but fleet in water. waist up lungs and human human heart. hair. tail. what a crazy combo. some people have very different relationships to their bodies waist up and waist down. that’s an interesting hinge for this creature to have. head and feet. aries/pisces.
weird combos are almost always doomed in the stories. but i like your thought that the stories are changing as we are.
wonder what the relationship is to capricorn. that’s another hybrid. goat/fish. an odd comparison, but somehow related i think. a tail to end is relatively common in mythic creature land. south node of the moon is also a tail-half of a being. rahu (north node of moon) is the dragon’s head. ketu (south node) is the dragon’s tail. great story about how that dragon got cut in half!
south-node, dragon’s tail in that case, from astro perspective, is past life, past soul experience. maybe your bad ronald has drawn you a picture of some old old memories. deep in the pool of unconscious. the nodes are the places where the moon can eclipse the sun, or sun the moon – ie: the places where moon’s orbit crosses the earth’s exactly. some memories are profound that way. unexpected crossroads. pathways long underwater. old old stories.
sometimes those mer girls guard jewels. your bad ronald drew her among them. bijou. and a ship. relation ship. long underwater. bones. but she’s content. hmmmmmm. i like this ronald of yours.
Oh my, my, dear Le Petit Poucet …. (hello, Xtine been a while since we had tea together)…. I was going to say that I believe myths are not static depending on the people that they serve but in the end when the people change do the myths change or do the meanings? A myth is a traditional story “accepted as history, serves to explain the world view of a people.” My being from the land of Aquarius…. of course can be unemotional and detached; perverse and unpredictable; intractable and contrary; original and inventive; and independent and loyal. So would I agree with your statement, maybe not…. Hexe personally thinks that many myths still sing the same song throughout eternity….the message not really changing. I like Xtine’s recount of all the tails in the land. What is taboo in one society may not be in another and so maybe the same myth will have many meanings and we just think they are changing when in reality they are not. OH hum, I must go tend to my ovens. I think I smell fish cookin’ – a very pretty fish.
Wow hek-sistah, all I can say is holy doo-doo. I mean, I see the blinking Xmas lights and sparkles in the water, say “yeah blue green blue yellow yellow means mermaid”. Then you come along and say “yup, and it blinks blue green blue red yellow red next, because this is where there’s the theme of bijous and relation-ships and old old stories.”
So much going on right now, this blog is so behind the swish and splash and the twinkle and the bunnies on bunny hill. I can hardly keep up, clues coming out of the blue, and the haunted house doing something huge. I’ll get to it, I promise. Oh, man hek-sistah X you got your ram’s head right on the money.
Hexe, I’m smokin! A little char to help the digestion. I got the tartar sauce just about mixed up.
Totally, ol’ reliable Joseph Campbell talks about myths and legends being part of the way we tell the stories behind what they stand for. The message doesn’t change, or the source of that message doesn’t change (it is eternal), but the means of communicating it may have to change to restore contact with the light.
We deviate, or abbreviate because we are in space-time coordinates. But Aquarius STILL has the radio on. Ham-radio enthusiasts with their transmitters on heavenly channels (or diabolic, Aquarius will tune their microscope anywhere, because they got to do their own thing). Being air sign water bearers (say what?), the ethernet of the clouds always has them on the go.
Oh, crumbs. Multi-faceted stuff cookin’ in the oven. Hexe, how does your gemstone grow?
Time for pizza.